Cutting Edge

Chapter 5
On the Home Front

Contemporary journalists and historians have attempted to chronicle specific events that took place at Camp Detrick, but for the most part these learned individuals have failed to articulate the atmosphere that surrounded establishment of the Biological Laboratories in 1943. Their major failing has been interpreting Camp Detrick events from the standpoint of the present.

It is difficult to compare America in 1943 with America today. At no other time in world history had every continent been so dominated by armies in mortal conflict as it was in 1943. The U.S. faced enemies on both shores and America had mobilized in an all-out effort to crush Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and the Empire of Japan. America supplied war materials to every embattled country. Millions of young men and women were drafted or volunteered to serve in the Armed Services. American industry looked to those at home, including women for the first time, to handle industrial work building airplanes, ships, and the machinery of war.

The U.S. feared the enemy and rallied to protect itself on every front. Potential invasion routes were verified and defensive measures taken, considering possible German landings in Central America, where its troops could move rapidly through Mexico into the American Southwest and the breadbasket of America. The enemy was expected to use espionage tactics extensively and it made several attempts in its effort to destroy America's will and resources to fight. There was some national hysteria, but calmer minds prevailed. Potential threats were being met at the time the laboratories were established at Detrick Field in April 1943.

What would be the effect, it was asked, if espionage involved contaminating American water and food supplies? In response, the Crops Division was established to study both defensive and offensive measures.

Out of this division came research into growing stronger, more productive food crops. At the same time research expanded in the fledgling field of anticrop agents. A few chemical herbi-cides had been investigated privately for many years prior to World War II, but it expanded rapidly at Camp Detrick.

In a report to Congress in 1977 entitled U.S. Army Activities in the U.S. Biological Warfare Program, Volume II reported,

Anticrop research at Fort Detrick concerned BW agents as well as CW (Chemical Warfare) agents, i.e., chemical herbicides and defoliants . . . Extensive field testing was done to assess the effectiveness of agents on crops. Many candidate anticrop BW agents were screened, resulting in five standardized BW anticrop agents.

Research on protective masks, particulate filters, protective clothing, and shelters was closely integrated with the chemical defense programs. Many compounds were screened for use as decontaminants and decontaminant dispensers were developed for field use. However, some chemicals which are the most effective are also toxic and/or carcinogenic...

This set the stage for two such anticrop agents becoming center stage in the media in 1978. Of particular concern was an agent identified as 2,4,5-T, or trichlorophenoxyacetic acid. This was one of the major components of what became known as Agent Orange. It was an effective defoliant used during the Vietnam War. However, it was tested in its purest form at Fort Detrick in controlled laboratory tests.

Dr. R. L. Weintraub and Dr. A. G. Norman wrote a definitive paper on 2,4,5-T in 1949. It was published in Economic Botany and was prefaced:

Large scale use of plant growth-regulating chemicals unheard of ten years ago has fostered a multimillion dollar business. In 1948, 27 1/2 million pounds of 2,4,5-T, once used only in minute doses for laboratory work, were manu-factured for agricultural use, primarily weed eradication.

Agent Orange became a weapon of choice in Vietnam, where it was, for example, used to clear the perimeter of base camps and to clear vegetation from known routes of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, supply route of the enemy.

A highly toxic agent, dioxin, began appearing as a by-product of the manufacturing process and is blamed by many as the cause of physical ailments seen in many Vietnam veterans.

In 1978, the finger of accusation pointed briefly at Fort Detrick. A search revealed 56 boxes of laboratory notebooks that were thought to have been destroyed in 1972. They provided important information for the Army.

The 1977 report said the BW program included:

...testing, production, and stockpiling of anticrop agents. Between 1951 and 1969, 31 anticrop dissemination trials were conducted at 23 different locations.

From 1951 until 1957, wheat stem rust spores and rye stem rust spores were produced and transshipped to Edgewood Arsenal . . . where they were classified, dried, and placed in storage.

Between 1962 and 1969, wheat stem rust spores were produced, transshipped to Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Denver, Colorado, classified, dried, and stored.

Rice blast spores were also produced during this period under contract to Charles Pfizer and Company and shipped to Fort Detrick for classification, drying, and storage.

The entire anticrop stockpile was destroyed as part of the biological warfare demilitarization program completed February 1973.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture took over the work of the Army Crops Division in the mid-1970s.

Anticrop agents were a point of contention in 1972 and 1973 when the demilitarization of Fort Detrick was reaching completion. Safety and environmental experts on the Army's advisory team recommended the material be processed through the steam sterilization plant and eventually be discharged safely into the Monocacy River.

The plan was reviewed by federal, state, and Department of Defense agencies. The Army then agreed to avoid that method of disposal. Instead it was determined that the quantities of dried material would be first processed in an autoclave. Following that the material would be assessed for the presence of any live organism. If no such live organism were found, the material would be incinerated. The 5-gallon containers would be autoclaved again, then, too, they would be incinerated. After incineration, the cans would be wire brushed to remove labels, they would then be crushed, and finally buried in the sanitary land fill. Ash from the incineration process would be harrowed into the soil in Area B at a site selected jointly by regulatory agencies.

Record files were retired to Suitland (Maryland) National Records Center in case questions about the safety of the decontamination process arose. The records provide scientific and engineering evidence of the safe disposal of the material including photographs of state officials observing the disposal process.

Anticrop agents were the only materials requiring such disposal. Other agents could be destroyed in the decontamination process of each building. Such action ensured the buildings could safely be occupied by the National Cancer Institute's staff, which took control of the facilities in 1973 when the Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center (FCRDC) was established.

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